I was recently looking to install Kdenlive on Gnome Ubuntu 22.04 LTS using the snap software store. However, I noticed that the search feature returned 2 applications both labeled Kdenlive with the same thumbnail. Visiting both, they had the same reviews, but different descriptions, versions, and verification status. One was version 23.08.4 and considered Safe, and the other was version 21.12.3 and Potentially Unsafe. Is this a bug or is something malicious going on?
Asked
Active
Viewed 198 times
1 Answers
3
Kdenlive version 23.08.4 is packaged as a snap package. Snap access to the rest of the system is defined by a set of interfaces, and the user can turn any of these interfaces off or on after the snap package is installed. This feature provides some additional security. Also snap packages are usually updated more frequently than .deb packages which means they receive security updates more frequently than .deb packages do.
In Ubuntu snap packages are self-contained applications bundled with their dependencies and configured to run in a sandboxed environment. Snap package "sandboxing" refers to the security feature that isolates these packages from the rest of the operating system.
Kdenlive version 21.12.3 is packaged as a .deb package in Ubuntu 22.04. The Kdenlive .deb package is maintained by Kubuntu Developers. The Software app might still flag it as third party because, even though Kubuntu is Ubuntu-based and associated with Canonical, it's a separate project with its own focus on the KDE desktop environment. Snap packages are packaged differently than .deb packages in a way that makes them compatible with all of the desktop environments that are available in the default Ubuntu repositories.
karel
- 122,292
- 133
- 301
- 332